Friday, 14 October 2011

Forgotten Book - Hangover Square

Patrick Hamilton is one of those writers who teetered on the brink of greatness, but never quite made it. He is, however, in the top echelon of literature’s nearly men, hence the intermittent revivals of interest in his work. And there is a modern type of edge to his best books that has helped to cement his reputation.

Hangover Square, published in 1941, is my choice this week as a Forgotten Book that deserves to be remembered. It is the story of George Harvey Bone, a burly but quiet man who is undone by his passion for the worthless Netta. An alcoholic who suffers from a touch of schizophrenia, he torments himself so much that the reader almost forgives him both his stupidity (Netta clearly wasn’t worth it, as his smarter friends instantly recognise) and his homicidal tendencies.

My copy of this book is the current Penguin reprint, which includes an introduction by J.B. Priestley. Now, I am keen on intros, which can add a great deal of value to a classic title. And Priestley, who knew Hamilton personally, makes several interesting points. But his piece is flawed, above all because he discloses what happens at the end of the book .This isn’t a conventional whodunit, far from it, but Priestley shouldn’t have been so crass

I think it’s interesting that this book prefigures the interest of modern readers in the psychology of the criminal. Bone is portrayed in some depth, though his ‘dead moods’ did not strike me as entirely convincing. Yet the novel is well worth reading, at a time when the psychology of crime is a big topic. Patrick Hamilton was a pioneer of the crime genre, much more so than his capable but less gifted brother Bruce. It’s no surprise that he remain a crime writer of choice for a good number of critics. This book is, by some standards, a failure. But it is a rather brilliant failure.

8 comments:

Now you need to see the movie version which is completely different, Martin. It retains only a trace of the original book and sets it in gaslit Victorian England on the eve of Guy Fawkes Day - an event that plays a crucial part in the movie. It's an astonishing film, has one of Laird Cregar's finest performances, and a hauntingly powerful score by Bernard Herrmann.

I have this book on the shelf and will be reading it soon. I've read a couple of Hamilton's novels -- his early Craven House and the wonderful Slaves of Solitude -- and I would say that in those at least he's well over the brink -- a truly great writer, in other words. But they are not crime novels, so I'll be interested to see what I think of this one.

Giving away the plot of Hangover Square is like revealing 'Rosebud' was a sled.There's actually also a remarkably bad film of Hangover Square- in which Bone is turned into a Victorian composer (played by Laird Cregar, surprisingly well), who plays his avant-garde piano concerto (Bernard Herrmann's first film score) as he burns to death at the end. The only redeeming features to it.

Yes, the variety of opinions is fascinating! And it's a good thing that opinions vary, too, or the world would be a dull place. Bruce Hamilton was indeed a good and interesting writer.Harriet, all Patrick's books (that I've read) are interesting, despite some flaws.

About Me

I am a British crime writer, and the author of eighteen crime novels, including series set in Liverpool and the Lake District, as well as winner of the CWA Short Story Dagger and CWA Margery Allingham Prize'. My latest book is The Golden Age of Murder, a ground-breaking study of the genre between the wars, and I am consultant for the British Library's Classic Crime series, as well as archivist to both the CWA and the Detection Club. I have edited twenty-four anthologies, published about sixty short stories, and written seven other non-fiction books..